One thing struck me last weekend. The inside of a high school gym looks the same wherever you are in the world. If we’re being philosophical, that probably says something. Sports transcend language and culture. Someone can pick up a basketball in Kansas City, Shanghai, Moscow, or Nairobi and shoot around with anyone regardless of language or race.
The joy and excitement of taking home a trophy is also the same in any language as you can hear from the team after their win.
The SMIC Girls Varsity Basketball Team, coached by Jeff, narrowly missed the championship round but took 3rd place in the SISAC league in Shanghai. The hard work of daily practices and weekly games for the past 8 weeks paid off in a lot of firsts for the SMIC Varsity Girls Basketball team.
Sports has always been a big part of our family life and that has remained the same across the ocean in China. We have participated in volleyball, track, table-tennis, basketball, with some sort of meet, match, or game practically every week.
SMIC is a private school with a Chinese track and an International School track. International schools in China operate separately from regular public schools and, as their name implies, cater to students from other countries. Most international schools have students who hail from the United States, Western Europe, Canada, and Australia. Chinese citizens cannot attend an international school unless they also have citizenship (i.e. a passport) from another country.
SMIC Private School is a bit different from most other international schools in that the majority of the population of students are Asian, but hold passports for Taiwan, Korea, Japan, or dual citizenship with the United States (i.e. ethnically Chinese but were born in the United States and have moved back to China for work and education).
Despite a gym being a gym, there are some differences in how sports are played here here in China compared to the United States. One of them is that very few parents go to the games and or tournaments. In the US you will see the stands full of cheering, flag waving, or otherwise exuberant parent and family spectators. In Shanghai I have usually sat alone or with other players in the bleachers rather than with other parents.
Last fall there was a big Sports Day event at the school. It was something like a field day and track meet all wrapped up into one. This was a big day for the school administration and community and there was pressure on the school to put on a big event. The kids talked about it for weeks. The day of the event, very few (if any) parents were there and though the kids were excited to compete, most seemed excited to just have a day of no school work.
Sports also bring injury. Suffering from a couple months of non stop jumping in the front row of volleyball matches, Janna’s knees were in bad shape so she didn’t participate. We did however go to physical therapy for the next 6 weeks and through that and some good old Chinese accupuncture, Janna has healed.
It isn’t over yet. Our journey continues as we look forward to more spring sports!